Getting men into the Kingdom is a topic in itself. But for now here are a few things we believe as a ministry are crucial if we are to win men for Jesus. Make sure your church:
- has a long term strategy to reach the men outside the church.
- recognises that in the UK today it takes a man on average five years to come to Christ (three for women).
- realises that men today are miles from the Kingdom and need to hear the Gospel at least 30 times before making a commitment to follow Jesus.
- understands that 80% people who come to Christ are brought by a friend.
- realises that many men struggle with small talk but will open up in the context of activity.
- sets in place a programme to deal with these realities.
Perhaps the biggest lessons I have learned about reaching men have been whilst riding my bicycle. A couple of years ago, in an effort to transform my life from being an overweight unfit pastor, I took up cycling. Always being one to go the extra mile I decided to respond to the challenge to cycle from Lands End to John O’ Groats in under 9 days.
After a bit of training, I along with 6 others guys (half of whom weren’t believers) did it. All the guys who weren’t believers ended up in a weekly bible study. The following year we did the same with 16 guys but this time from Calais to Nice over the Alps. The same positive spiritual outcome took place. Some of my most effective conversations about Jesus have taken place while side by side with other men in the context of cycling.
In fact, sometimes the most intimate and personal things have been shared. Why? Because we are side by side, exerting ourselves, struggling though the pain barrier together with all the guards and defences torn down. We also used the cycle ride to raise money for a worthy cause thereby igniting men’s hearts with the chance to do something positive for those less fortunate than themselves (in this case, a work in Africa). The efforts that some went to in order to raise money was extremely humbling.
I’m not suggesting we all go out and cycle crazy distances but perhaps if we in some way made a small effort to walk and journey with men, rather than expect them to come into our world, we may see some startling breakthroughs.
So in conclusion let’s unashamedly gear some ministry towards the men.
Some things to consider:
For believing men:
- Prayer triplets – weekly if possible; 45 minutes will do; accountability among members
- Termly breakfasts – give them some fellowship time, saturated fat, and teach them some relevant Biblical truth
- One on One mentoring by mature men for younger men
For Not Yet Believers:
- Well organised social/sports events with no overt Christian content
- A termly breakfast with a good speaker who gives his testimony and a clear Christian statement.
- “Enquirers’’ courses such as Alpha but occasionally run for men only. We need to understand that as Jesus shines his light into a man’s heart, the issues that he will be struggling with (perhaps gambling, pornography or hidden stress) won’t be discussed in front of Jane but will be talked about with John and Steve. Especially if he has been doing some stuff shoulder to shoulder with them.
For Both groups:
- How about a semi retired/retired man being released to serve as an encourager and pastoral worker amongst men, carrying out work visits and giving wise counsel.
That’s far from all and as I have previously said, we have painted broad brush strokes and made inevitable sweeping statements and generalisations. Hopefully however there are some useful thoughts in the above to get us all thinking and see some more men introduced to Jesus. There’s a big job to do and a bit of up hill boulder pushing to engage in but when you consider that according to “evangelicals now” in 2003 that when you lead a man to Jesus, 93% of his family follow to Jesus (as opposed to 3.5% for children or 17% for women) we need to get serious about the way we reach out and minister to men.
